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Now, made-in-China aircraft for Indian sky
Shauvik Ghosh
Posted online: Friday , July 11, 2008 at 00:43 hrs

New Delhi, Jul 10The Chinese aviation authority and India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) are in the process of coming to an agreement, which will result in both the authority certifying indigenous aircraft of each country.

China’s state-run aircraft maker—China Aviation Industry Corporation (AVIC)—has been trying to export its 60-seater turboprop aircraft to India for sometime now. But the company has been unable to get the requisite clearances the DGCA.

The DGCA needs to give all aircraft sold in India a safety and overall technical clearance before they can be sold to Indian companies and individuals. The issue of certification cropped up after Delhi-based Indus Airways and MDLR initiated talks with the Chinese aircraft maker to import aircraft into India to operate on short-haul routes. The Chinese short-haul aircraft, known as MA 60, is already flying in countries like Bolivia, Congo, Indonesia, Laos, Zambia and Zimbabwe. MA 60 is considered very suitable for India, compared to China, as it has an advanced transport infrastructure, sources informed.

“Till now, we have been certifying aircraft that have already been certified by the American Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) before allowing them to fly in India,” a civil aviation ministry official said. “We are in talks to decide on the process to be implemented in order to certify their aircraft and their certification of our indigenously produced aircraft,” he added.

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited is in the final stages of manufacturing the country’s first indigenously produced passenger aircraft—Saras. This aircraft seats 14 passengers and comes with a provisional price tag of around Rs 40 crore, sources said.

By getting this process started, the civil aviation ministry has essentially ensured that the indigenous aircraft will have buyers in China’s burgeoning private and business aircraft sector, when it comes into production in 2010.

China has launched an ambitious civilian aeronautics program to build aircraft that, by the end of the next decade, can compete with those supplied by European manufacturer Airbus and US-based Boeing, which dominate the market for commercial planes. By next year, it also plans to have its first regional jet—ARJ21—ready to compete with planes made by Brazil’s Embraer and Canada’s Bombardier as well as the Russian-built Superjets.

China has also established the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (CACC), which will be responsible for researching, developing, manufacturing and marketing the homegrown large passenger aircraft. CACC has a registered capital of $2.7 billion, with the state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission being the biggest shareholder.